Odisha intensifies probe into jumbo killings

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Tuesday intensified a probe into the alleged killing of elephants in the state`s Similipal National Park after the recovery of decomposed body parts, bones and skulls of four jumbos in the reserve, an official said.
While the state`s Chief Wild Life Warden Janardan Diwakar Sharma has arrived in the park to take stock of the situation, park officials searched several other places near the site to find out if more jumbos had been killed.

The bones and skulls of three elephants, probably a male, a female and one calf, were dug out close to each other in the core area of the park, while that of a baby elephant was found about a kilometre away.

All appeared to have been buried and covered with leaves. The decomposed body parts were dug out by workers this week after a May 3 tip-off.

Anup Kumar Nayak, Director of the park Monday said the baby elephant might have been poisoned 20-25 days ago. However, he said the other three could have probably died three-four years ago.

The special secretary of the state forest and environment department Tuesday said the government is getting DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) and other tests done on the recovered body parts.

He said the next course of action would be decided after the test report is received. He added that the park authorities have been told to create a special force to prevent the killing of the animals.

Similipal in Mayurbhanj district, about 320 km from here, is home to about 450 elephants. The park covers 2,750 sq km, of which 303 sq km is the core area. This biosphere reserve is also a wild life sanctuary and one of the country`s first Project Tiger reserves.